Chapter 6 of 10 · 2'06"
One voice says he saw his childhood through this family and those young actors. Another says working with children brings a "let's play" feeling, "not like somebody talking baby talk." On set the note is "Work yourself up," so a shouted line gets bigger. Later someone explains shooting in story order and warns a shock will be loud.
❝ Monologue · 6 lines Work Yourself Up Until It Gets Bigger
Why E.T. Was Shot in Order
On the E.T. set, one person says he saw his childhood through a family and young actors. Another describes a "let's play" feeling when Steven works with children, and says it is not baby talk. A voice pushes a child to deliver "Are they coming?" bigger by working up. Later someone explains shooting in continuity, and warns that a loud shock on the chest makes you jump.
The fond note is that working with children feels like play. Soon after, a refusal draws the real line. "It's not like somebody talking baby talk to kids." What follows is "really communicating" and "sort of like direct transmission," not a cutesy voice for kids. On the set that method gets physical. The cue "Work yourself up" sits with "Does this mean they're coming?" The next note is "work yourself up even more," and then the take has to get "Bigger, bigger." Play includes pressure. Someone is being asked to mean the line. The same plainness shows up in the schedule. "I wanted to shoot E.T. in continuity," so "tomorrow will be tomorrow in the script and yesterday was yesterday." That ties to "a real confidence" that the kids are "living a life and they're living a story's life." Even the shock is previewed in so many words: it "makes you jump and cry even more."
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Spielberg: I saw my childhood through this family and those young, wonderful actors.”
Memory is something he looked through other people to see, not a story he simply owned.
literary
“Peter Coyote: When Steven works with children, he brings a kind of "let's play" feeling.”
A working method is renamed as an invitation, so the job sounds like a game you can enter.
Neutral
“Coyote: It's not like somebody talking baby talk to kids.”
The line works by refusing a fake voice, so respect shows up as a contrast.
Neutral
“Do that to E.T. Give that joyful scream to E.T.”
Two commands move the feeling off the person and onto the creature they are playing to.
Informal
“tomorrow will be tomorrow in the script and yesterday was yesterday in the script.”
The repetition turns a schedule into time a child can actually feel.
Neutral
“it gives them a real confidence that they're living a life and they're living a story's life.”
The second living makes ordinary days and the story's days feel like one breath.
literary
Peter Coyote: When Steven works with children, he brings a kind of "let's play" feeling. He'd have to pull you back. Grab on to this, right here. Coyote: It's not like somebody talking baby talk to kids. It's just he's really communicating to them. And it's sort of like direct transmission. Now he suddenly turns to you, his eyes come open.
Up next · 07the full montyThe scene: Spielberg Admits He Was TimidThe instruction is to do the line again, really excited about "Are they coming?" Then the cue "Work yourself up" arrives with "Does this mean they're coming?" The reply to a take that is still too small is "No, work yourself up even more," followed by "Bigger, bigger." The point is a bigger, more excited reading, not a new line.
The speaker says he wanted to shoot "E.T." in continuity because it gives the kids a context for that day's work. They know tomorrow will be tomorrow in the script and yesterday was yesterday. For young kids, that is a real confidence that they are living a life and living a story's life.
The lines just before are a preview. Someone explains that they put the machine on his chest and are going to give him a shock to make him come back. The shock is very loud, and it "makes you jump and cry even more." Right after that, someone is crying, and another line asks, "Are you okay, honey?" The passage does not name the person who is crying.
The line gives him "a bit of a father" and "a bit of a pal," then says "he was, more than anything, an observer of them." More than anything puts the weight on the last item. Father and pal stay partial. Watching them is the main claim, and the next line adds that this was a lot of fun for him.
